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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports men's soccer

Junior forward Bruin confirms decision to turn pro

Men's Soccer v. Tulsa

Will Bruin has junior-itis.

The fitness specialist major has withdrawn from all his spring semester classes and will forgo his senior season  -- all in the name of Major League Soccer.

Bruin is one of nine soccer stars across the nation to sign a Generation Adidas contract. The contract is an enticement to draw the top soccer players out of college, or skip college completely, and into the MLS.

“Sure I’m going to miss it,” Bruin said. “I’m going to miss everything about college in general. I’m leaving all my friends, my teammates, school. I’m definitely going to miss college soccer a lot. Everybody I’ve played with has had a huge impact on me.”

The junior forward scored 18 goals in 2010, doubling his total from 2009. He was named a MAC Hermann finalist, an honor given to the best player in college soccer. He was also distinguished as a first-team All-American.

First-year IU coach Todd Yeagley and assistant coach Brian Maissoneuve who served a combined sixteen seasons in the MLS talked with Bruin before he made his decision.

“With whatever decision I made, he supported me 100 percent,” Bruin said about Yeagley. “He just wanted what was best for me. They only had good things to say about it.”

Although Bruin’s decision means the IU coach will be without his top goal scorer, Yeagley was still proud of Bruin’s chance to be able to make this decision. Since IU is on holiday break, Yeagley said he did not contact his players individually to inform them of Bruin’s decision.

“The discussion has been going on for some time now,” Yeagley said. “A lot of the players, I think, knew the situation might happen so it’s not going to be a shock to the group … We obviously will discuss our team when we get back. Every team is unique and different every year. With the omission of Will, it’s even more different. I think our other players are excited for Will and we’ll figure out a way to fill the void as we have through the years with some of our best.”

So now, the Hoosiers are Bruin-less. And for now, they are in search of a goal scorer, but Yeagley said he isn’t too worried.

 “This next team is going to be much more balanced in our scoring,” Yeagley said on the phone from a recruiting trip in Orlando, Fla. “We’re going to have to be. I don’t know if we have an 18-goal scorer right this minute within the team. However,Will doubled his total from last year. I think we’re very capable of getting some players to increase their goal production.”

Bruin, a DeSmet Jesuit High School grad, will be a part of the MLS SuperDraft which takes place on Jan. 13 in Baltimore. He is projected by Foxsoccer.com’s Ives Galarcep to be selected either seventh or eighth, with Penn State’s Corey Hertzog snatching the other slot.

The last DeSmet Jesuit High School- to-IU-to-MLS soccer star was Pat Noonan, who earned three All-America distinctions while playing for the Hoosiers from 1999 to 2002. Noonan just completed his eighth year in the MLS.

?Although Bruin was never able to bring Bloomington a national trophy, he scored four goals on the Hoosiers way to a Big Ten regular season championship this season – the team’s first since 2007.

Now, he’s preparing for wherever the draft takes him. Bruin plans on slowly starting back up on classes from whatever city he goes to next, hoping his IU credits will transfer. First, he’ll have to adjust to a new city while all his Hoosier teammates adjust to a season without No. 11.

“I’m excited,” Bruin said. “ It’s another challenge that hopefully I’ll be able to overcome.”

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